In the least surprising result of the weekend, Butler swept the men's and women's cross country championships. A complete and dominant effort from the Bulldogs at Kensington Park, about 45 miles outside of Detroit. In trying to convince myself that someone on another team had a chance, I used the rain, cold, and slippery conditions as factors that could even the playing field. I forgot that Butler's two top runners are from the United Kingdom, where cold and rainy are the norm, and four of their top seven runners call the U.K. home. Suffice to say, they probably felt very comfortable in the conditions and it showed.
Butler's men finished in the top six spots of their race while the Butler women took the top three spots in the second race of the day. More impressively, Butler's top three women were all freshmen. Lauren McKillop, Katie Clark, and Shelbi Burnett ran like seasoned vets in their first Horizon League Championship.
I am from NEW England, not England, so I wasn't feeling the cold, or the end of my fingers. Running around the course to shoot video with Damon was an experience itself. Wind was whipping the rain right into our faces and wreaking havoc with our camera. We used one of these to cover the camera to avoid it getting wet. Not ideal at all. The whole time I couldn't get "November Rain" out of my head...even though it was the last day of October.
In all of the chaos of running from spot to spot, trying to stay warm and avoiding puddles and slippery leaves, the simplicity of cross country struck me. There isn't a sport more basic . It's outdoors, there's no track, only you and dozens of other athletes running to a finish line. The simplicity of it accentuates the greatness of an athlete like Andy Baker. He won the race by 24 seconds. To be a shot clock violation better than the entire field is incredible. In his final Horizon League race, he turned a corner and gave a Secretariat-like look back at the field. Much like the 1973 Belmont Stakes, nobody was close.
For a good view of Baker looking back at the field, check out the 2009 Horizon League Cross Country Championship recap.
After the women's race we weaved in and out of exhausted bodies at the finish line in search of someone with enough breath to interview. We finally got a hold of Butler's coach, Matt Roe.
